Weird plus Weird equals: What the Hel-Hades!
by Mr. Spinner
Summary: When an unusual pegasus is born at Camp Half-Blood, Annabeth has an idea of how it happened. And to take care of the foal, she needs specialized help. Oneshot - takes place after Ship of the Dead. Read and review!


**Spawned from a random question I thought of. Hope you like it.**

 **Weird + Weird = What The Hel/Hades?!**

On the tip of Long Island Sound, there lies a protected place. A camp, a haven, for those born of powerful deities. These demigods, if they survive, use this place to train and to learn, to learn to live and fight the monsters and horrors that thrive in the world since their birth in Ancient Greece.

One of these such demigods was Will Solace, counselor of the Apollo cabin. Will was a little different in the sense that most of his supernatural talent lay in healing, as opposed to the more varied spread of his siblings. The downside: he wasn't as good at his father's other aspects as his siblings (though he was no slouch in any of it). The upside: he was easily the best healer in the camp.

Currently, Will was in the process of delivering a baby pegasus outside the Stables. It wasn't uncommon for the winged horses to have children, but their births were almost never difficult, due to the hardiness of the foal's grandsire. The fact that they had a birth on their hands that would be difficult for normal horses was truly strange (even by a demigod's standards).

As Will focused all of his power into easing the birth along, Percy Jackson calmed the mother. Percy's natural connection to all horses (thanks to his father being the literal Father of Horses) was paramount in this. The mother, Blaze, was terrified.

"It's alright, Blaze," Percy murmured, "everything's going to be alright." The line of sweat running down the son of Poseidon's neck showed he wasn't as sure as he claimed, but at least he was trying. Finally, Will delivered the foal.

"What the Hecate …?" Will whispered. Percy looked over in surprise; Will was above all a professional when it came to healing, with a bedside manner that mortal doctors would quite-possibly kill for. He never let stuff like simple surprise slip. Making sure Blaze was settled (she was exhausted, but fine) Percy moved over to see.

"Holy Hades," Percy whispered. This was no pegasus; at least, not any he had ever seen. No wonder it had been a difficult birth. "I think Annabeth needs to see this," he said.

* * *

Annabeth chewed on her thumbnail as she watched the pegasus/not-pegasus foal try to play with its fellows. The other foals shied away from him, sensing that he was unnatural. And from supernatural horses, that was saying something.

The foal, who had yet to be named, was an anomaly. The foal had _four wings_ and _six legs_! Blaze loved her foal, all pegasai were affectionate parents, but all of the rest kept their distance, even the adults. Will and Percy had kept the foal under wraps, except for Chiron and Butch (and him only because he ran the stables). Even Butch, their best equestrian next to Percy, was a little wary of the unnamed foal.

Annabeth wanted more than anything to believe that this was a fluke, a mutation. But she had a hunch that this was far from the case. The number of its appendages picked at something in her memory, and she had been forced to call in a second source. One with a different specialization.

Percy walked up beside her with a half-smile. "What did he say?" Percy asked.

"He'll meet us in Plymouth."

* * *

On the beach of Plymouth, Massachusetts, Magnus Chase watched the waves from a park bench under a stand of trees. He chuckled at the sight of tourists crowding around the historical superstructure for Plymouth Rock. Even outside of Boston, tourists were hilarious to watch.

Laying in the grass was his friend Hearthstone, or Hearth, soaking up sunlight. Annabeth had seemed pretty shaken up when she had called his room in Hotel Valhalla (it still made him wonder how the phones worked in that insane hotel). Magnus had decided to ask Hearth to join him to lend his expertise in magic. Plus, Magnus just missed the guy. It had been a while since they had hung out. His one regret was the Blitzen wasn't there, too.

They waited for a few more minutes before Magnus got a text on the burner phone he had gotten for the occasion. ' _Landing. Brought Percy._ ' Magnus smiled at that. Magnus and Percy had actually gotten along great. He only wished that he had gotten the chance to do the whole "disapproving guy cousin" thing. That would have been fun.

True to her word, Annabeth and Percy landed one of those wacky winged horses at the far side of the harbor, away from prying eyes. Magnus nudged Hearth with his foot, prompting the elf to sigh and stand to follow.

Magnus grinned as he hugged his cousin. Yet another friend that he hadn't seen in too long. Percy stood from whatever he was doing next to the pegasus and bumped the son of Frey's fist. Hearth got a handshake from Annabeth and a fistbump from Percy.

"So who's this lovely lady?" Magnus asked, gesturing to the winged mare. The pegasus approached and nuzzled Magnus, who chuckled.

"This is Blaze," Percy answered, "and she totally likes you, man." Magnus barked a laugh.

"Must be cool to actually talk to horses," he said. Percy just shrugged.

"It has its ups and downs." Magnus shrugged in turn and conceded the point.

 _So what is problem?_ Hearth signed, with Magnus translating. Annabeth and Percy traded a look, one of those looks that can only be traded by those who know each other better than they know themselves.

"We had an unusual pegasus foal born," Annabeth started, eliciting a derisive snort from Blaze, who Percy gently scolded for her language. _Mama-horse instinct_ , Magnus thought. "The foal has … extra parts, even for a pegasus. Something about it made me think you might know something."

Annabeth and Percy led out a foal, clearly little more than a newborn, and Magnus was stunned. He recovered quickly and Hearth had just lifted an eyebrow. The foal before them had four wings instead of its mother's two, and- Wait a minute. Magnus glanced at the mother's legs.

"Six legs," Magnus thought aloud, the gears turning in his head.

 _Two extra wings_ , Hearth signed. _If the wings were legs, it makes eight_. Magnus nodded in agreement.

"Hearth, do you think you could-?" Hearth nodded and reached into a leather pouch on his belt, removing a smooth black stone. Carved in the stone was the Ehwaz rune, the rune for _horse_ :

 **ᛖ**

Hearth tossed the stone in the air and it broke into a cloud of dust. "Cue the horse," Magnus said, pointing in a general upwards direction. Right on cue came a blot of steel-grey in the blue of the sky, rapidly growing. The shape eventually settled into a double-sized steel-grey horse with eight, count them, eight legs.

The horse settled and looked to Blaze, who whinnied in greeting. The foal gave an adorable mini-whinny and approached with a small jump, flapping its wings, to settle before the new arrival.

"Stanley?" Magus asked, "is that you?" The eight-legged horse looked up from studying the foal to shake its mane at Magnus.

"Yep, it's Stanley," Percy said. "He apparently didn't like the name before, but it grew on him and now he uses it all the time." Magnus chuckled and patted Stanley's neck.

"So Stanley, is he yours?" Magnus asked. Stanley looked to Percy, as if speaking directly to him. Percy paled just a little, though the grin and mischievous glint in his eyes didn't fade.

"Wow," Percy said after a few minutes, "that's some story. If there's a horse-Nicholas Sparks, I bet he'd write something like that." Percy turned to see everyone waiting for an explanation.

"Apparently, horses from different sides of mythology aren't supposed to interbreed. Something about causing 'strain on the fabric of mystic biology' or something. But, in Stanley's words, Blaze was 'too much of a babe to resist'." Percy's cheeks had gone pink, but he powered through it.

"So, what do we do with the foal?" Magnus asked, turning by default to Annabeth. "We don't have stables for Sleipnir's kids at the Hotel." Annabeth bit her lip in concentration, and Magnus began to understand what Percy had said once about almost seeing the gears turning in her head. Did he look like that when he concentrated? Or was it a "child of Athena" thing?

"I don't think Chiron, our camp director, would turn him away," she reasoned, "but he may not be allowed to keep him, either. Zeus can be a bit … prickly, with things he doesn't agree with." A faint peal of thunder followed her words and Annabeth sighed through her nose, as if it had proven her point.

"So, to clarify," Percy said, "we can't send him to Valhalla, we can't send him to camp, and I'm pretty sure Stanley, here, won't take care of him." Stanley grunted and shook his mane. "Scratch that, I'm totally sure," he added. "And we can't let him roam the wild-" He cut off, eyes wide, and Magnus could almost see the lightbulb above his head.

"I've got a plan," he said.

* * *

Reyna waited by a stone bridge that spanned the Little Tiber to the Oakland Hills, far from prying eyes. She couldn't deny that Percy and Annabeth's Arcus message (the Roman name for Iris message), delivered with a request for discretion, had been intriguing. What could the Greek couple want with her that the Legions shouldn't know about. She trusted them, without a doubt, and that's what made it thrilling rather than intimidating.

Reyna checked her watch, wondering what was taking them so long, when a large shadow passed overhead. Rather, upon looking up, it was a pair of shadows. Reyna's eyebrows shot to her hairline as a trio of horses landed in front of her, clearly what would be a family unit among other animals. Her eyes widened at the sight of the father, a wingless flying horse with eight legs that was big enough to carry four separate individuals (and was doing so).

Percy, Annabeth, and two unknowns climbed down from the strange horse's back, the Greek demigods greeting her warmly. Reyna greeted them in turn and then focused on the large horse, who studied her in turn with intelligent brown eyes. The horse nuzzled her palm and gave a faint whinny.

"Told you so," Percy told him before looking to Reyna. "Reyna, this is Stanley. He's the father of, well, we don't have a name for-" The son of Poseidon was cut off by a high-pitched whinney as a young pegasus darted to her prancing in place with joy. Clearly, it could sense her status as well. Wait, was that _four wings_?!

"No, you're not going crazy," Annabeth said, cutting off that line of reasoning. She looked to Reyna before gesturing to their companions. "Reyna Ramirez-Arellano, this is Hearthstone," the tall, pale one nodded, "and my cousin, Magnus chase, son of Frey." Cousin? Come to think of it, they did favor each other, even if the boy, Magnus, looked like a young Kurt Cobain.

Reyna gave a professional smile and shook both boys hands before her train of thought caught up with her. Wait a moment-

"Frey?" Reyna asked, not recognizing the name. She knew the name of every Roman god, and more recently their Greek counterparts, and she had never heard that name. Magnus gave a slight grimace and glanced at his cousin, who gave the barest hint of a shrug.

"Okay, listen. How much do you know about Norse myth?"

* * *

Reyna sat on the bank of the little Tiber, her expression set in a faint scowl as she tried to piece together everything she had learned in the past hour. Apparently, the norse gods were just as alive and well as the Greco-Romans and were centered in Boston. Wonderful. And just when she thought the world couldn't get any bigger.

Reyna started as the mixed-foal nuzzled its head under her arm with a whinny. Reyna smiled, one of her rare genuine smiles, and patted the animal. While she hadn't given a full answer yet, Reyna had chosen to take in the animal as soon as she understood its predicament. Not only did it - he - have nowhere else to go, but she liked him. In her mind, the foal was proof that differing mythos could peacefully coexist.

Reyna chuckled as the foal tried to pull her onto her feet, standing to humor the infant creature. She looked up to find the bemused looks of her friends, old and new. She schooled her features into a look of reserved calm, just as she would before her troops.

"He'll be safe with the Legion," she assured Stanley and Blaze. Both nodded their heads and approached to bid their offspring goodbye. A quiet sniffling caught reyna's attention and she glanced over to find Percy dashing away a stray tear. She tried, almost successfully, to contain her chuckles.

After a time, both parents backed away. Stanley burst into a cloud of dust, leaving behind only a dark stone carved with a strange symbol. The pale man (Hearthstone, the elf, Reyna scolded herself while still wrapping her mind around the concept) picked up the stone and tucked it into his pouch with a faint smile. Magnus, on the other hand, sighed.

"Great, how are we supposed to get back to Boston?" he asked. Blaze strutted up and butted his arm. Percy grinned at the scene.

"She says she'd be 'honored to escort a child of the great Frey'," Percy said offhandedly. Magnus laughed and stroked Blaze's nose.

"I knew I liked you," he said, before he and Hearthstone mounted up. "Wait, what about you two?" Magnus asked. Percy and Annabeth smiled, trading a loving glance.

"We were meaning to come to New Rome, anyway," Annabeth said. "It's the best place for vacation that a demigod can get." Percy (for once) said nothing, simply taking Annabeth's hand. Magnus smiled, happy for his cousin, and glanced to Reyna.

"Before we go, what's the kid's name?" he asked. Reyna glanced down at the foal by her side, the corner of her mouth twitching up. She had considered that, and had come up with something she thought appropriate.

"His name is Quiver," she said. If his parentage was anything to go by, then his legs and his wings would move him like an arrow from a bow. The foal, Quiver, whinnied as if in agreement, his body shaking with repressed energy. Yet another reason for the name; he _quivered_ with energy. Hearthstone smiled and signed something, which Magnus translated as strong agreement.

With that, Magnus urged Blaze on and the Norse demigod and elf flew away. Reyna glanced behind her to see Percy and Annabeth holding hands, gazing at the Little Tiber. Reyna grinned and clicked her tongue, getting Quiver's attention and gesturing for him to follow.

After a few minutes, Reyna glanced down at the foal. She'd have to come up with a suitable cover story for the unique magical horse, but that could come later. For now, she was planning to introduce him to the joy of any horse's life: apples and sugar.

 **What do ya'll think? Is Quiver cute or what? This fic emerged from a simple wondering of what would happen if a pegasus and Sleipnir had a foal. If you like it, leave a review! Thanks for reading!**


End file.
